Mediagazer: Study: Political journalists opt for stenography over fact checking during presidential debates (Craig Silverman/Poynter)

3:20 PM ET, July 16, 2014

Top News:

Time Warner rejected $80B takeover bid by Murdoch's 21st Century Fox last month, no longer in discussions — Rupert Murdoch Said to Have Made Offer for Time Warner — Twenty-First Century Fox, the media empire run by Rupert Murdoch, made an $80 billion takeover bid in recent weeks …

Discussion: TimeWarner Blog, Quartz, USA Today, Bloomberg, Business Wire, Deadline.com, TVNewser, Multichannel News, Media & Entertainment, Engadget, AdAge, Capital New York, Re/code, Variety, Latest News & Headlines, Adweek, Business Insider, Business Insider, AdAge, Telegraph, Radio & Television …, Forbes, Forbes, Guardian, Businessweek, Business Wire, Home Media Magazine, Mashable, TIME, CNNMoney.com, TheStreet.com, Yahoo! Finance, US News, Guardian, New York Post, AM New York, NY Daily News, The New York Observer, ABC News, International Business Times, Washington Post, Latest News & Headlines, Reuters, The Corsair, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, Comic Book, Bloomberg, euronews, Bloomberg, DW.DE, RTTNews, FierceCable, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, New York Times, Associated Press, Broadcasting & Cable, MediaWire Daily, Los Angeles Times, cnbc.com, Globe and Mail, Capital New York, @erinade, Forbes, Politico, Talking Points Memo, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, @atotalmonet, Reuters, VentureBeat, Quartz, Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, @karaswisher, @jackshafer, Bloomberg, The Wrap, @nytimesbusiness, @smartfootball, Detroit Free Press, The Daily Caller, Top Digital Journal News, Mediaite, @michaelwolffnyc, @poniewozik, Reuters, C21Media, @carr2n, The Wire, @ethanklapper, The Huffington Post, @willmckinley, Telegraph, CNET and New York Magazine

Laura Hazard Owen / Gigaom:

Amazon is testing “Kindle Unlimited,” an ebook subscription service for $9.99/month — Amazon is testing an ebook and audiobook subscription service called “Kindle Unlimited” that offers “unlimited access to over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just $9.99 a month.”

Alan D. Mutter / Reflections of a Newsosaur:

The newspaper crisis, by the numbers — Roughly a decade after the commercial debut of the Internet, America's newspapers posted record high advertising sales of $49.4 billion in 2005, leading many publishers to think their businesses would not be seriously affected by the digital revolution.

Discussion: Poynter, @billadairduke, @kevglobal, @grovesprof, @jayrosen_nyu, @ssuttell and @niemanlab

Richard Smirke / Billboard:

Global Indie Sector Unites To Launch ‘Fair Digital Deals Declaration’ — Over 700 indie labels have given their backing to a major new initiative promoting fair and transparent accounting to artists and music companies in respect of digital revenues. Representatives of Domino, Cooking Vinyl …

Michelle Castillo / Adweek:

Univision reports 73M World Cup livestreams, WatchESPN cites 43M hours of live viewing — Univision, ESPN Score Digital Victories During 2014 World Cup Both networks report record increases in traffic, livestreaming By Michelle Castillo — Germany may have won the World Cup …

Discussion: stream.aljazeera.com, Hollywood Reporter and Hollywood Reporter

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes: World Cup Streaming Boosts Comcast's TV Everywhere Push

Chris Jasper / Bloomberg:
World Cup Final Watched Live by Record 40,000 Airline Passengers

Discussion: @panasonic_mea

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

Netflix already stopped mailing DVDs on Saturdays, but you probably didn't notice — The USPS may not have gone forward with its plans to kill Saturday mail delivery, but Netflix isn't waiting. A few customers have noticed it's no longer processing shipments on Saturdays, opting for a five day schedule instead.

Discussion: Re/code, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, fox59.com and Cinema Blend

Reuters:

Apple agrees conditionally to a $450M settlement in e-book price-fixing case; $400M will go to consumers — Apple agrees to conditional $450 million e-books antitrust accord — (Reuters) - Apple Inc has agreed to pay $450 million to resolve U.S. state and consumer claims …

Discussion: ag.ny.gov, Business Wire, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Channel NewsAsia, Hollywood Reporter, AppleInsider, Electronista, The Next Phase, Publishers Lunch, The Verge and Patently Apple

Craig Silverman / Poynter:

Study: Political journalists opt for stenography over fact checking during presidential debates — During the 2012 U.S. presidential debates, political journalists on Twitter primarily repeated candidate claims without providing fact checks or other contest, according to new research published …

Discussion: TVNewser, @jayrosen_nyu, @pragmaticobot, @craignewmark, @owillis, @mlcalderone, @jaredbkeller, @markcoddington, @craigsilverman and The Huffington Post

Andy / TorrentFreak:

RIAA Copyright Pressure Silences Historical Radio Archive — When sites like The Pirate Bay come under copyright holder pressure, there is often a big backlash from users who see such action as unfair. That being said, it's generally accepted by both sides that The Pirate Bay courts trouble by …

Discussion: Plagiarism Today, Techdirt, @dangillmor, AllAccess.com and Airchecks:Radio:REELRADIO …

Melissa Hellmann / TIME:

Nielsen Partners Up With Facebook to Track Television-Viewing Habits — Nielsen Media Research, the television-ratings company, will be partnering with Facebook to ascertain what television viewers are watching on their tablets and other mobile devices. — In the past, Nielsen solely tracked meters …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Lost Remote, Washington Post, PC Magazine, French Tribune, redOrbit, NBC News, Tech Times, Cinema Blend, AllFacebook and Tech Times

David McLaughlin / Bloomberg:

Sony, Universal Said Facing Probe Over Songwriter Fees — The music-publishing arms of Sony Corp. (6758) and Universal Music Group are being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department for alleged price coordination, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Discussion: Billboard, @dangillmor, Wall Street Journal, RTTNews, Complete Music Update, SeekingAlpha, Radio Ink Magazine, Quartz, AllAccess.com, CNBC and WallStreet Scope

Vivian Yee / New York Times:

Corner Media Expands Its Network of Brooklyn Blogs — By now, the neighbors know exactly where an associate publisher of one of Brooklyn's biggest media conglomerates works (about three feet from his bed, most days) and what he looks like. That is the way he likes it.

Discussion: @juliemmoos, @raju and @tommy_robb

Ian S. Port / SF Weekly:

Alt-Weekly Awards Snub Music Writing of the Nation's Largest Alt-Weeklies — This week, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the professional group representing papers like SF Weekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, LA Weekly, and Village Voice, announced the winners of its annual awards.

Discussion: @iport and @earmeat

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Tumblr, Blogger, and WordPress have larger audiences on mobile than desktop, only WordPress has seen overall traffic growth — Why Online Audiences' Mobile Migration Isn't All Bad News for Blogs — Mobile Hasn't Made Up for Desktop Declines, but It Is Growing — Online audiences are migrating to mobile.

Andrianes Pinantoan / Pocketbook:

27% of Australians using TV and movie subscription services use Netflix despite geo-blocking — How Netflix Is Doing In Australia: 2 Stats That Should Scare Foxtel and Quickflix … Andrianes Pinantoan — Andre is heads up marketing at Pocketbook. He's an accounting graduate …

Discussion: @getpocketbook and CHOICE

Samuel Gibbs / Guardian:

The return of the YouTube troll: Google ends its ‘real name’ commenter policy — The search company has apologised for complicating the commenting process, and reversed its ‘anti-troll’ real name policy on Google+ — Google has reversed a policy that forced users of Google+ to use their real names …

Discussion: plus.google.com, Mashable, SlashGear, Online Social Media, Gizmodo, PC & Tech Authority, Tech2, htxt.africa, Silicon Republic and GMANetwork.com

Dave Lee / Medium:

Technology journalists are facing extinction — Very soon I won't be needed. — One of the first ever online journalists for the BBC is a close colleague of mine. These days, you'd say he was the most experienced member of the team. — But back in the 90s, when the BBC …

Discussion: @adders, @nathanjurgenson, @fmanjoo, @annfriedman, @mattlynley, @megangarber, @sfiegerman, @jayrosen_nyu, @martinstabe, @kvetchup, @lukeplunkett, @jamesrbuk, @davelee and @digiphile

Kristen Hare / Poynter:

Media reporter's advice for her replacement: ‘Turn your computer off once in a while’ — Until the end of the month, Johana Bhuiyan is a digital media reporter for Capital New York. Bhuiyan's headed next to cover tech for BuzzFeed's FWD. Before she leaves our tribe of media reporters …

Stuart Dredge / Guardian:

Paul McCartney re-releases five of his classic albums as iPad apps — Band on the Run, McCartney, McCartney II, RAM and Wings over America get reworked for the modern-day App Store — Paul McCartney is the latest musician to experiment with the idea of albums as apps …

Discussion: The Next Web, Macgasm, App Advice, MacRumors and 9to5Mac

Anne Voigt / INMA:

Bild.de brainstorms new revenue ideas, finds long-term success in product partnership campaigns — The print + digital “Volks-Produkt” campaigns, which started with a discount computer retailer partnership, continue to bring in revenue. Bild.de shares some lessons learned from 12 years of partnership success.

BBC:

BBC journalists are to go on strike on the first day of the Commonwealth Games next Wednesday. — BBC journalists are to go on strike on the first day of the Commonwealth Games next Wednesday. — The walkout will start at midday on 23 July and last for 12 hours.

Discussion: Scotsman, BECTU, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk, Reuters, Daily Mail, @andrewjkeir, allmediascotland, dailyrecord and @bbcgaryr

Martin Bryant / The Next Web:

Beamly OnDemand is a ‘Twitter DVR’ for BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4OD — Beamly, the social TV startup that recently rebranded from Zeebox, has an interesting new Chrome extension out today. Beamly OnDemand works with three UK catch-up TV services and displays tweets about the shows as you watch …

Discussion: TBI Vision and Digital TV Europe

John Glenday / The Drum:

BBC director general argues against license fee reform — BBC director general Lord Hall has defended the contentious license fee by declaring it 'ain't broke' in an argument against reform of the revenue model. — The intervention effectively sets out the corporations stall on reform of the system …

Discussion: blogs.lse.ac.ukpolicyproject, Digital TV Europe, Broadband TV News, Telegraph and Lincolnshire Echo

Matei Rosca / PandoDaily:

Monetizing Murder: Dailymotion allows major brands to advertise on terror videos — Some of the West's most popular brands are advertising on, or next to, macabre extremist videos, some involving beheadings, executions, savage beatings and terrorist propaganda.

Discussion: Mediaite